Myers fears Hollywood’s end is near

Publicist worried strike will hasten erosion of biz

Longtime Hollywood publicist Julian Myers will turn 90 soon. And he worries the end may be near … for Hollywood.

Myers frets that the WGA stalemate — with all of its acrimony, vitriol and job losses — is a harbinger of ill things for the industry.

“The strike impasse is speeding the end of Hollywood filmmaking and television production,” says Myers, who has been working in the biz since 1939 and is still an IATSE member. “There are more union contracts coming up for renewal, and already unionists are crossing union lines. IATSE is urging its members to go right on through. Insults are being exchanged, faces will be bashed and fatalities are a possibility.”

Myers, of course, remembers when such confrontations were more common. He recalls participating in a 1946 strike in which 900 unionists were arrested in front of Warner Bros. Studios and bussed off to a Burbank jail.

Now, with tensions again running high, Myers worries that the town might be consumed.

“Does a dying Hollywood need a civil war today to hasten its erosion?” he asks.